It is well known that a pickup consisting of a single monolithic coil will pick up stray electromagnetic radiation and transmit this radiation (when coupled to a musical instrument amplifier) in the form of noise, which is audible as low frequency 60 HZ hum. There is also electrostatic noise, in the form of high frequency buzzing, at the pickup's resonant peak frequency. By combining a pair of coils as employed in the humbucking pickup principle, the audible noise factor is considerably reduced but not completely eliminated. As shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,442,749, the humbucking principle can be applied in a pickup with the coils arranged in a concentric configuration, with a metal plate formed into a U shaped channel common only to the upper coil section of the pickup. This configuration is inductively unbalanced, which compromises the noise reduction capability of the pickup.